Dr. Robert W. Widell, Jr.

University of Rhode Island Department of History 80 Upper College Road, 113 Washburn Hall Kingston, RI 02881 (401) 874-2112 [email protected]

Education • : Ph.D., United States History, 2007 Dissertation: “To Stay and Fight” Birmingham, Alabama, and the Modern Black Freedom Struggle • Emory University: M.A., United States History, 2003 • Duke University: B.A. (magna cum laude), 1996

Faculty Positions

University of Rhode Island • Associate Professor: Recent United States, Civil Rights, & African American History, 2014 – present • Assistant Professor: Recent United States, Civil Rights, & African American History, 2008 – 2014 • Lecturer, Spring 2008

Teaching Positions

University of Rhode Island (2004-2008) Bryant University (2004-2007) University of Colorado-Denver (2004) Dillard University (2003-2004) University of Montevallo (2002) Emory University (2000-2001)

Publications

Books Birmingham and the Long Black Freedom Struggle, Palgrave MacMillan, Contemporary Black History Series, 2013

Articles & Chapters “‘The Power Belongs to Us and We Belong to the Revolutionary Age’: The Alabama Black Liberation Front and the Long Reach of the Black Panther Party,” in Liberated Territory: Untold Local Perspectives on the Black Panther Party, Jama Lazerow & Yohuru Williams, eds., Duke University Press (2008)

Book Reviews & Review Essays

Review of David L. Chappell, Waking from the Dream: The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Duke University Press), Journal of American History (March 2017)

Review of Micah W. Kubic, Freedom, Inc. and Black Empowerment (University of Missouri Press), American Historical Review (April 2017)

Review of Kenneth Robert Janken, The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s (UNC Press), Journal of Southern History (February 2017) Review of Jakobi Williams, From the Bullet to the Ballot: The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party and Racial Coalition Politics in Chicago (UNC Press) in Michigan Historical Review (Spring 2015)

“‘A Double-Edged Sword: Manhood and the Long-Term Impact of the ’: I Am A Man!: Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement by Steve Estes,” H-South Book Review (2006)

“‘Remembering the South’s Violent Past’: Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Race Massacres of 1919 by Grif Stockley,” H-South Book Review (2002)

Editor/Content Consultant The 1964 Freedom Summer, Rebecca Felix, ABDO Publishing Company (2014)

Encyclopedia Entries “Alabama Black Liberation Front,” Black Power Encyclopedia: From Black is Beautiful to Urban Uprisings, Jasmin Young, Akinyele Umoja, and Karin Stanford, eds., Movements of the American Mosaic series (forthcoming, 2017)

“Selma March,” Encyclopedia of African American History, Leslie Alexander and Walter Rucker, eds., ABC-CLIO.

News Media “The 50th Anniversary of the Birmingham Church Bombing,” Blog Post, Lawyers, Guns, & Money (http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2013/09/the-50th-anniversary-of-the-birmingham- church-bombing)

Works-in-Progress Alabama’s Attica: Johnny “Imani” Harris, the Atmore-Holman Brothers, and the Origins of the “New Jim Crow”

Sustaining the Movement: The Southern Organizing Committee for Economic and Social Justice

Conference Panels & Presentations

African Americans, Firearms, and Self Defense, Session Commenter, Southern Historical Association, Annual Meeting (2015)

New Directions in Civil Rights Movement History, Session Chair/Commenter, Oral History Association, Annual Meeting (2014)

“A New Day in ‘Bombingham?’: Johnny ‘Imani’ Harris, Atmore-Prison, and Civil Rights in the Late-20th Century,” Assoc. for the Study of African American Life and History, Annual Convention (2014)

Desegregation and Eduation, Session Chair/Commenter, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Annual Convention (2014)

“Backlash Blues: The Conservative Ascendance and the Continuing Black Freedom Struggle,” Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting (2010)

“Politics and Protest in Birmingham and the Black Belt in the ‘Post-Civil Rights’ Era,” Roundtable Discussant, Assoc. for the Study of African American Life and History, Annual Convention (2008)

“‘Getting it Together’: The Public Employees Organizing Committee and ‘Civil Rights Unionism’ in Post- 1963 Birmingham, Alabama,” Working Class Activism in the South and the Nation: Contemporary Challenges in Historical Context, Labor and Working Class History Association and Southern Labor Studies Conference, Duke University (2007)

“Black Power, Law Enforcement, and the Consequences of Telling One’s Story,” Oral History Association, Annual Meeting (2006)

“The Post-Civil Rights Era? Black Activism in Birmingham, Alabama 1963-1979,” Race & Place III: The Civil Rights Movement, University of Alabama (2004)

“‘Post-Civil Rights’ Activism in Birmingham: The Alabama Black Liberation Front,” The Black Panther Party and the American Historical Perspective, Wheelock College (2003)

Invited Talks & Presentations

“The Birmingham Movement and the Birmingham Children’s Crusade,” Simmons College, Presentation to Curriculum Group: Race, Education, and Democracy Lecture and Book Series (2013)

“ & The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” Public Lecture, North Kingstown Public Library (2012)

“Black Women and the Expansion of the ‘Civil Rights’ Agenda,” Dana Shugar Colloquium, Women’s Studies Program at the University of Rhode Island (2009)

“‘To Stay And Fight’: Birmingham, Alabama, Black Activism, and the Long Civil Rights Movement,” Public Lecture, Suffolk University (2007)

“Expanding the Civil Rights Narrative,” Public Lecture, Dillard University (2004)

“The in Birmingham, Alabama,” Symposium Lecture, Before You Travel On: Reflections on the Fortieth Anniversary of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement, Birmingham Public Library (2003)

Manuscript Reviews

Journal of American History (2015 & 2016) Bedford-St. Martin’s (2013) Hill and Wang (2011) University of Alabama Press (2007)

Community Outreach & Public History

URI Department of History Oral History Project, Coordinator (2016-present)

Memory vs. Representation: Soldiers’ Homecomings in History, Literature, & Testimony, Public Panel Series funded by Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (2016)

University of Rhode Island 125th Anniversary Committee (2016)

Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary Oral History Project: University of Rhode Island Multicultural Center (Fall 2014 & 2015) http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/freedom_summer/

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Profiles in Courage Essay Contest, Second-Round Judge (2011-present) “Civil Rights & Race Relations,” Monsignor Clarke School, Wakefield, RI (2013-2015)

Letter from a Birmingham Jail: A Worldwide Celebration, University of Rhode Island (April 2013) (http://www.bplonline.org/programs/1963/letter.aspx),

“The Civil Rights Movement,” Brightview Commons Retirement Community, Wakefield, RI (February 2013)

“The Civil Rights Movement,” Epoch Assisted Living Community, Providence, RI (October 2011)

“The Civil Rights Movement,” AP Government Students, Classical High School, Providence, RI (2006-2007)

NEH “Teaching American History” Instructor, Univ. of Colorado-Denver & Denver Public Schools (2004)

Public Archival Exhibit: Fertile Ground: The Civil Rights Movement and Its Legacy in the Mississippi Delta (2001) Curator, Emory University Department of Special Collections

Doris Derby Papers, Emory University Department of Special Collections (2000) Organized and Assessed Former SNCC Worker’s Papers for Acquisition

Black Panther Party Research Project (1998)

Community Stories Oral History Project, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University (1996-1997)

Fellowships, Grants, & Awards

Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, “Memory vs. Representation: Soldiers’ Homecoming in History, Literature, & Testimony “ (2016) Sabbatical Leave, University of Rhode Island (Fall 2015) Center for Humanities Faculty Research Grant, University of Rhode Island (2013 & 2015) Richard Beaupre Hope & Heritage Award, University of Rhode Island (2008 & 2010) Faculty Summer Research Award, University of Rhode Island (2008) Emory-Dillard Teaching Fellowship Dillard University (2003-2004) A. Worley Brown Southern Studies Fellowship, Emory University (2002-2003) Black Panther Party Research Project: Summer Research Fellowship, Stanford University (1998)

University Service

AAUP, All University Collective Bargaining Committee (2017-present) Honors Colloquium Planning Committee, “Empowering All: Women, Gender, and Action” (2016-present) URI 125th Anniversary Planning Committee (Spring 2016) Classroom Without Borders: Service Learning Honors Colloquium (2012-2016) Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Committee, Faculty Senate, University of Rhode Island (2014-present) Honors Colloquium Initial Planning Committee, “Inequality & the American Dream” (2014) URI & South County Habitat for Humanity Partnership Committee (2013-2016) Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society, Faculty Advisor (2009-present) Graduate Committee, Department of History (2009-2016) Honors Colloquium Planning Committee, “Great Public Schools: Everyone’s Right? Everyone’s Responsibility?” (2012-2013) Dissertation and Comprehensive Exam Committees, URI English Department (2011-present) Teaching Fellows Program, Instructional Development Program (2010-2011) Faculty Search Committee, U.S. Civil War & Environmental History (Fall 2010) Assessment Committee, Department of History (2008, 2013) (Chair, 2010) Talent Development Program Instructor (2005-2014)

Professional Memberships

Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Southern Historical Association (SHA) Oral History Association (OHA) Publications Committee (2014-present) Program Committee (2014) Organization of American Historians (OAH)